Carla's Cat Tips

CARLA'S CAT TIPS

I often receive information and tips from cat lovers on the vary aspects of keeping cats, for which I am very grateful as I have no personal experience of cats myself. The following have all been sent in by Carla who has apparently been keeping cats for many years.

I must stress, however, that these tips are personal and given in good faith. If in doubt always check with your vet first.

Garlic is part of the onion family and is indeed toxic to animals WHEN FED RAW.

Some say it causes anaemia in cats and dogs if fed to them, but the fact that I have had eight dogs and five cats (without yearly shots) on a farm and only one dog ever got sick when they all got ticks and stuff, thanks to garlic, says it all. The trick is in moderation, and it being cooked garlic. I never used flea preparations or flea collars either.

As for Urinary Tract infections, I would like to add that even though it is more males that get it, it hits females without prejudice. The cause I have seen most of is diet. Your cat is what you feed it.

Studies have found that the RAW diet has had a huge decrease in UTI, and that says a lot. Some say it’s because a cat’s dry food has to have low dietary levels of magnesium, less than 0.12% .

When I move, I keep kitty indoors for a month, and find that that way, they walk-about less and stay closer to the house.

Cat collars now come with a break-away clip. I’ve had one cat strangle itself from panicking with an elasticised collar, since then I only use the break-away ones, and they’re perfect.

Another thing is to tempt a cat to a scratching post, since one third of all adult cats are immune to catnip, is Valerian. Works a charm, as does Honeysuckle.

A great deterrent for keeping your pets inside an area and other animals out is a product called “Silent Roar”. On the farm in South Africa we were about 3km away from the Lion park, and I used to ask the staff for lion faeces in a bag. I went around the farm (5 hectares) and smeared little bits on the fencing itself, sometimes dropping bits on the ground.

No jackals came onto the property, and our cats and dogs had free roam, they never left the property. Zoos should be able to supply lion manure to the general public, just set up a good rapport with them. Test it for yourself and see how effective it is, not the bravest animals will cross that scent, they know a large meat-eater when they come across that scent.

So many people say their cats freak out when they touch their paws so they cannot clip them, all this takes is handling the cat more often, and stroking their paws as much as they will allow, over time a cat will allow more and more contact, so that the only contact is not when clipping has to happen, which creates a bad impression on the kitty.

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